


The Doldrums

by Jadesfire



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Torchwood
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-29
Updated: 2010-03-29
Packaged: 2017-10-08 10:02:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/75531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jadesfire/pseuds/Jadesfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Companion pieces, separated by time, joined by theme.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Doldrums

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Are we nearly there yet?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written first, but now a companion piece to "The Calming"

Rose was bored. She'd plaited and unplaited her hair, read and reread the magazine her mum had slipped into her bag, and listened to everything she recognised from the TARDIS' music collection. Twice.

Tipping her head back against the wall, she groaned. "How much longer?"

"It's always the same." The Doctor's sounded muffled, what with his being inside the main console, but Rose could hear the sarcasm in his voice. "Are we nearly there yet? No patience at all, you lot."

"Be fair, Doctor," Jack said from across the room. "It's been a while."

"I told you, it'll blow itself out." Emerging, the Doctor dropped a spanner back into the toolbox next to him on the grating and took out his sonic screwdriver. "There's nothing I can do about it until it does."

"But we haven't been out of here in nearly a week," Rose said, pulling herself to her feet and wandering towards the main console. "A week of doing nothing."

"Hardly nothing," the Doctor replied, sounding affronted. "I've recalibrated the ion sensor, Jack's rewired half the roundels that haven't worked in years and you made that cake."

Hearing Jack's muffled laughter from across the room, Rose glared at the Doctor. "There was nothing wrong with the cake."

"Of course not."

"Not my fault your oven's weird."

"Right. Not your fault at all."

"The strange lumpy bits, they might have been your fault." Jack ducked as Rose threw a spanner at him. It bounced harmlessly off the wall.

"Oi! Watch the ship." But there was no real annoyance in the Doctor's voice. Truth be told, Rose suspected he was as bored as she was.

"How much longer?" she asked again, ignoring the Doctor's exaggerated sigh.

"Look, it's like this." He pulled her round the console, standing her in front of the screen, which showed two swirling patterns, dancing and interweaving with each other. "We're stuck in a kind of dead space, temporally speaking. My people used to call it the Calming, but it's like the Doldrums." Seeing her blank look, the Doctor made an impatient sound and tried again. "The Doldrums are a convergence point on the equator, hot air and cold air meeting, swirling round, messing with the weather. Sometimes they make it rain, sometimes they make it dry. At sea, it used to cause dead patches, no wind, no nothing for days on end."

"So that's where we get the phrase from." Jack had come to stand behind them, one hand resting lightly on the Doctor's shoulder as he leaned in to look.

"All gone by your time," the Doctor told him. "Climate had completely changed. But it used to drive sailors mad, even killed some of them if it lasted long enough."

"But we're alright, aren't we?" asked Rose, a little worried. "I mean, we've got food and everything."

"We're fine. A lot better off than they were. There's the whole TARDIS to explore, plenty of food around the place, things to do and what do you two do? Sit around here and annoy me."

"How big is the TARDIS?" Jack asked, looking thoughtfully at the door to the rest of the ship.

"I lost track a while back." The Doctor sighed. "Then there was the time I had to jettison some rooms. I put some of them back, but I've never tried to count and I don't advise it. You'd run out of fingers."

"There's the wardrobe room and the kitchen and the bedrooms and bathrooms," Rose said. "Then there was that room all full of old books."

"That's my library," the Doctor protested.

"Old books, covered in dust. Big reader, are you?"

"With you two on board, getting yourselves into trouble, who's got the time?"

Sticking her tongue out at him, she went on, "Then I think there was a kind of living room, with sofas and stuff."

"Is that all you've seen?" Turning from the console, where he'd been doing something unfathomable with his screwdriver, the Doctor tilted his head. "Barely scraped the surface. Come on."

Jack slipped his hand into Rose's as they trailed through the TARDIS corridors.

"Any idea where we're going?" he asked.

"I don't even know where we are."

"Keep up!" the Doctor called over his shoulder, and Rose increased her pace, not wanting to lose him. She'd never find her way out again, and Jack looked as lost as she was. Grinning, she squeezed his hand, getting one of his brightest smiles in return, and she knew that he was as intrigued as she was.

They turned a corner only to nearly run into the Doctor standing outside a door that looked just the same as all the others they'd passed.

"Here we are then."

"Where's that, exactly?" Jack asked, glancing from Rose to the Doctor and back again.

"Observatory." Flinging open the door, the Doctor held out a hand. Rose took it, and let him lead her inside, followed by Jack. She heard him whistle in surprise, but only vaguely. Most of her attention was taken by the scene in front of her.

There were no walls to the room. No ceiling, no walls and, when she looked down, no floor either. It was like standing on Jack's invisible ship again, except instead of being in the middle of London, next to Big Ben, she was standing in space. They were surrounded by stars, bright against the pure black. Above her, sparks and lights burst into colour, dying almost as soon as she could see them. Ribbons of red, purple and blue danced above her, spreading wide like sails in the wind, glittering and glowing.

"It's the edge of the Calming," the Doctor said softly. "Right at the convergence point."

"It's beautiful." Jack sounded as awestruck as Rose. He was gripping her hand so tightly that it almost hurt, but she didn't care. Instead, she tugged a little, drawing him with her she moved closer to the Doctor's side.

"I'm not going to understand how it does that, am I?" she asked. When he didn't say anything, she tore her gaze away from the light-show to look at him. He was smiling at her with a kind of amused fondness, almost laughing a little to himself. Letting go of her hand, he wrapped his arm round her shoulders, hugging her close.

"No, you're really not. Pretty though, isn't it?"

"It's beautiful." She wasn't even aware that Jack had let go of her hand until she felt him grip her other shoulder, his arm resting just under the Doctor's. When she looked up at his face, it was full of wonder and joy, his eyes wide like a child's.

"How long does it last?" he asked, almost whispering, as though his voice would disturb the intricate pattern.

"As long as the Calming," the Doctor replied, looking from one to the other of them. "I can't make it go away, but we can at least make it bearable. Right?"

"I'll say." Jack sounded breathless with happiness, making Rose laugh.

"Definitely." Slipping her arms round both their waists, she leant back, letting them take her weight as she gazed up.

Above them, the Calming soared and shone, colour meeting colour, merging, weaving and interlacing in a never ending, never repeated dance.


	2. The Calming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ianto's first trip into space isn't quite what he imagined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written as a companion to "The Doldrums"

Ianto hadn't known it was possible to get space-sick. His only comfort was that he wasn't the only one. No-one had seen Owen since twenty minutes after they'd come on board, but Ianto guessed he was now regretting having lunch. Neither of the women seemed affected at all and then there was Jack.

It was hard to remember the last time Ianto had seen Jack so happy. In fact, now he thought about it, he couldn't remember ever seeing Jack this happy. Not with all his clothes on. When the Hraltin had offered them a quick spin through the stars in return for the life-saving medicines Torchwood had agreed to provide, Jack had practically jumped out of his seat. The others hadn't had much choice in the matter, although only Owen was now complaining. Tosh was loving wandering round the spaceship, prodding things and asking more questions than the Hraltin could answer. Gwen looked completely overwhelmed by the whole experience, grinning goofily and apparently quite content to just sit and stare out of a porthole.

When Jack had finished bounding round the ship like a hyperactive Tigger, he'd dragged Ianto up to the observation deck, to stand and watch the stars together. In truth, it made Ianto more than a little dizzy, especially once Jack had dimmed the lights, creating the illusion of standing in the middle of, well, nothing. But then Jack wrapped an arm round his waist, steadying him as they leaned on the rail together.

"Beautiful," he breathed, staring out at the tiny spots of light.

"Impressive," Ianto managed, his own breathing coming a little faster now. It wasn't that he didn't like being up here, seeing things that most humans would never experience. It was more that he would have preferred it if it didn't make him quite so nauseous.

"Impressive?" Jack echoed, disbelief in his voice. "Is that all?" Letting go, he bounded down the steps from the small platform towards the window, pointing at things as he went. "This is the Darges cluster. They've got three stars in their system and the planets' surfaces are so hot that all life evolved underground. Then this," he jumped straight upwards, stabbing his finger towards a gaseous shape in the far distance, "is the Ponjale nebula. There are more pirates in that quadrant of space than there are in the neighbouring three solar systems. This one," he ran across the room, waving his arms at a huge spiral of stars, close by, "is the Endalay ring. Well, it's not a ring really, unless you're an Endal but that's a whole other story. What?"

He stopped, putting his hands on his hips and looking up at Ianto, who was shaking his head, a wry smile on his face.

"Is there anything you don't know?"

Grinning sheepishly, Jack stuck his hands in his pockets and made his way back up the steps. "Sorry. I just-" He broke off, sighing. "There's so much to see out there."

"I can tell." Ianto scanned the deep blackness again, frowning as something caught his attention. "What's that?" He pointed to a patch of space in the middle distance.

"I'm not sure. Hang on." There was a small panel by the door, and by pressing a few buttons, Jack managed to zoom in on the place Ianto had indicated. Streaks of colour were splashed across it, like a child's drawing of a rainbow. Ianto heard Jack suck in a breath, then there was the beep of the communications unit.

"Captain Prala," Jack said, his voice suddenly business-like, "have you seen the anomaly in quadrant forty-eighty three-twenty four? Good. Just checking."

"What is it?" Ianto could make out more colours than he had names for, blazing across space, backlit by the stars and sparkling with their own light.

"I don't know its proper name," Jack said, his voice oddly soft. "But it's a patch of dead space, where nothing can fly, nothing can move. Get caught in it and you just have to sit and wait it out."

"Sounds dangerous."

"If you're properly stocked up, it's mostly just dull." Jack was close now, his arm against Ianto's as they leaned on the railing. "But the light show makes up for it." He must have linked his wrist comp to the controls, because Ianto felt the arm against his shift, and suddenly the ceiling was transformed, covered with the coloured light.

Half-laughing in wonder, Ianto held out a hand, watching his skin glow yellow, then a deep, fiery red, then the blue of the clearest ocean. He turned to Jack, expecting to see similar delight on his face. Instead, Jack's expression was one of deep wistfulness, sorrow and joy mingling into one.

"Jack? What's wrong?"

Jack blinked at the sound of Ianto's voice, then brushed a hand across his face. In the strange, ever-changing light, Ianto could see his cheeks were glistening.

"Nothing. I'm fine." Jack lifted his eyes to the ceiling, watching the colours play and shine. "Isn't it beautiful?"

"Stunning." But Ianto was looking at Jack. After another moment, he reached out and covered the other man's hand with his own. "You've seen it before." It wasn't a question.

"Once. I was told it's called the Calming."

"Who told you?"

There was no answer for a long time, and Ianto had actually given up hope of getting one. He jumped when Jack's voice whispered in the quiet. "A good friend."

It was barely even code any more, and Ianto didn't bother to ask. After another minute, Jack tugged on his hand, leading him towards the side of the room where Ianto vaguely recalled a wall being at some point. Jack seemed to remember where it was, because he put his back to the starscape, sliding down until he was sitting on the floor, apparently leaning against the vacuum of space.

Ianto joined him, letting Jack wrap his arms around him, holding him in an almost too-tight embrace. He didn't say anything else, but then he never did. For every secret that he told, everything that he knew and lectured and warned about, Ianto knew that Jack had at least ten more, haunting his dreams and hiding in the shadows of his mind. He'd talk about them when he was ready or when he needed to. Ianto had long since accepted that there were some things he didn't need to know.

So, tipping his head back, he leaned on Jack's shoulder, linking their hands together and listening to their gentle, steady breathing as they watched the rivulets of colour widen and narrow, twist and flex, interweave and separate, carrying their dance across the stars.


End file.
